Neal Brennan Paper Toy

This paper people is Neal Brennan, the papercraft is designed by sally. Neal Brennan is an American writer, stand-up comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle’s Show with Dave Chappelle.

In the mid-90s Brennan moved to Los Angeles and in 1995 he became a writer for the Jenny McCarthy dating show, Singled Out. This was followed by writing jobs for the game show Bzzz! in 1996, the sketch comedy-variety show All That from 1996 to 1997, and the teen sitcom Kenan & Kel in 1997.

In 1997 Brennan and Dave Chappelle collaborated for the first time on the screenplay for the film Half Baked.The film was released in January 1998 and starred Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. Half Baked was commercial failure and received mainly negative reviews. In a 2006 interview Brennan referred to the year of the film’s release as “probably the worst year of my life, creatively and personally.” In an interview that same year on Inside the Actor’s Studio, Chappelle recounted how he and Brennan lost touch with each other after the release of Half Baked: “It just was like leaving a crime scene” Chappelle said.

Four years later Brennan and Chappelle came together to co-create, co-write and co-executive produce the sketch comedy show Chappelle’s Show, which premiered in January 2003. Brennan stated that he and Chappelle read the book Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, by Tom Shales when they started writing sketches for the show and found the book very helpful. The duo wrote the show’s sketches themselves with minimal outside help and agreed to never divulge who was responsible for writing which Chappelle’s Show sketches. Brennan directed some sketches in the show’s second season, including the sketch featuring Chappelle as musician Rick James. Brennan was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2004 for his work on the show as a director, writer and producer. By the end of its second season, Chappelle’s Show was Comedy Central’s highest-rated program.

Members of the musical group The Roots worked as music directors on the second and third seasons of Chappelle’s Show. Brennan would later recommend the band to Jimmy Fallon as his house band on the talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

In an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show on February 3, 2006, Chappelle stated that Brennan made no attempt to contact him after he left the show: “How many times do you think he’s called his sick buddy since he went to Africa?” Brennan stated in a 2011 interview for ChicagoNow that he was hurt that his longtime friend Chappelle didn’t even warn him prior to abruptly leaving the show for Africa and that “he owes me a phone call, if anything.” Brennan also stated his dismay at the fact that he was not given prior warning of Chappelle’s interview with Oprah, nor was he contacted by The Oprah Winfrey Show’s producers for his side of the story. Brennan stated in the ChigacoNow interview, as well as during his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on June 14, 2011, that he felt Comedy Central played a role in pitting he and Chappelle against one another.

In an interview in the July 2006 issue of Maxim magazine, when asked if he would ever work with Chappelle again, Brennan said there was “no chance.” In 2009 he repeated this sentiment in an interview with the New York Times when he said: ““The relationship is charred. I don’t think Dave ever wants to be in showbiz again, and I wouldn’t want to work with him.” In a 2012 interview with the Vancouver Sun Brennan said working on the show was stressful: “I don’t miss [Chappelle's Show], I’m glad I was decent at it, but I always feel [a sketch comedy show] takes years off your life.”

Brennan stated in 2011 during the aforementioned Joe Rogan interview that he and Chappelle were “still friendly…and hang out when he is in LA.”On February 1, 2012 Chappelle and Brennan both performed comedy sets at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, California.Brennan also suggested that Chappelle might appear on his podcast, The Champs, saying: “I’m sure Dave will do it at some point”.

In 2006 Brennan directed and co-wrote the made-for-TV movie Totally Awesome.Brennan directed the 2009 film The Goods starring Jeremy Piven. In 2011 he directed a series of commercials for the ESPYS.

As an actor Brennan had small roles in the films Half Baked and Get Him to the Greek and he also appeared in various sketches on Chappelle’s Show. Neal Brennan has also written comedy material for the 83rd Academy Awards as well as for Seth Meyers’ speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2011.

Brennan continued to perform some stand up while working on Chappelle’s Show, but he stopped after the end of the show: “I didn’t want to get up on stage and have people yell, ‘Where’s Dave?’ once I got on stage.” He returned performing stand up in 2007 and has expressed enjoying stand up more than writing for television and working in movies. Brennan continues to perform stand up regularly in the LA area as well as nationally. He has also appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Lopez Tonight, and Conan.

In 2011 Brennan, along with comedian Moshe Kasher and DJ Douggpound, started a podcast called The Champs. Kasher said the following of the podcast: “It’s Doug dropping sound effects and beats over me and Neal kind of hosting an hour of ridiculous chat. We have a rotating black guy guest, there’s a different black guest every week.” Guests of the show have included actor/comedians Wayne Brady, and David Alan Grier, adult film star Lexington Steele and professional basketball player Blake Griffin. The show has strayed from its guest format on four occasions with episodes featuring comedian and actor Bobby Lee, former pornographic actress Sasha Grey, former Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco and comedian Felipe Esparza.